An epidemic of runaways from a juvenile psychiatric facility kept Akron and Ephrata residents on edge last year.

Some of the boys fleeing the residential SummitQuest Academy allegedly committed thefts and other crimes in the area.

In just seven months last year, Ephrata police responded to about 100 calls at the 1170 S. State St. address, 43 of which were for runaways.

Police complained that they were committing too many resources to calls at SummitQuest. Area residents also pleaded for improvements — and it appears they have have gotten them.

SummitQuest Academy had no runaways in January or February, according to the Ephrata Police Department's acting chief, Lt. Thomas Shumaker.

Shumaker said this week that the number of police calls in general from SummitQuest has also dropped in recent months.

"The problem is improving," he said. "Hopefully, the corrections SummitQuest made at the facility will continue."

SummitQuest Academy is owned by Ohio-based ViaQuest Behavioral Health.

ViaQuest President Chris Wolf last year blamed SummitQuest's increase in runaways on a 2006 state mandate limiting the restraining of adolescents.

The Alternatives to Coercive Techniques (ACT) Initiative set by the Department of Public Welfare restricts restraining a client unless he displays "imminent danger" — ongoing, aggressive behavior toward himself or others.

Before ACT, staff had restrained residents attempting to leave the facility, Wolf said Tuesday.

Under the new restrictions, the care providers "were at great conflict" about what they were allowed to do, he said.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' interpretation of "imminent danger" didn't seem to apply to someone leaving a facility, Wolf said.

So SummitQuest staff did not restrain residents from exiting, and instead called police.

"SummitQuest wasn't doing what they needed to do to try to stop kids from leaving," contends Anne Marie Ambrose of the Department of Public Welfare's Office of Children, Youth and Families.

Ambrose and others from the DPW visited SummitQuest in August.

"We made very clear to them what the expectation was, and they have improved dramatically," she said.

Wolf said the DPW explained that it is OK in most cases to restrain an adolescent when he is trying to leave the facility.

Staff's return to restraining clients in such cases is the main reason for the sudden drop in the number of SummitQuest's runaways, Wolf said.

SummitQuest is a 129-bed, non-lockdown residential treatment center for boys. It currently houses 85 boys, ages 11 to 18, with behavioral, mental health or sexual issues.

Patients are placed there by a guardian, county agency, or as a condition of probation. Teachers from Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 educate the boys.

In January, Ephrata police responded to 11 calls from SummitQuest, eight of which were informational or follow-up in nature, Shumaker said.

In February, police responded to 23 calls from the facility — one theft, 17 investigations, one aid/assist, one child/family offense and three informational or follow-up calls.

Shumaker and Akron Borough Manager Dan Guers said they have not received any recent complaints concerning SummitQuest.

"I think the joint effort by Ephrata, Akron and the departments of health and welfare has really paid dividends," Guers said.

Ambrose said part of SummitQuest's problem last year was a lack of programming for its residents.

Children should not want to leave the facility if it provides them with appealing things to do, she said.

Ambrose said SummitQuest's administrator, Steve Palmer, has moved the facility in the right direction in recent months.

He is resigning from his position in April, but his replacement will continue the effort, according to Wolf.

SummitQuest is offering its residents more opportunities to use its gymnasium, Wolf said.

The facility is also partnering with DPW to utilize state-of-the-art training called the "Sanctuary Model."

Wolf said initial training has already occurred.

The model calls for all employees at the facility, even nurses and lunch servers, to learn the backgrounds of residents. They learn what individual triggers the patients have and a safety plan on how to prevent an offending cycle from occurring, Wolf said.

He predicted that incorporating the strategy will lead to a continuing decrease in the need for having to physically restrain patients.

Wolf said SummitQuest's periodic informational meetings with Ephrata police and government officials will continue as long as they are requested.

The next one is set for Wednesday, May 21, at 7 p.m. at the Akron Borough Hall, 117 S. Seventh St., Akron.

CONTACT US: rrobinson@LNPnews.com or 481-6032